Customers were promised refunds after website closure but some are still awaiting payment.
Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

House of Fraser’s website could reopen as early as next week after the troubled department store chain struck a deal with its warehouse operator that will mean the closure of one of its warehouse sites before Christmas.

The website was taken down on 15 August leading to the cancellation of thousands of orders. Customers were promised refunds but some are still awaiting payment.

The closure was the result of a dispute between Sports Direct, which bought House of Fraser out of administration last month, and the warehouse operator, XPO, which is understood to have been owed about £13m when the department store collapsed.

Suppliers said stock began flowing into stores on Wednesday night after an agreement was reached between XPO and Sports Direct. Under the deal, XPO’s Milton Keynes warehouse will deliver goods for House of Fraser until November when it will close with the loss of about 300 jobs.

Another warehouse in Wellingborough will remain open until at least March, but a further 300 jobs remain at risk there as industry insiders suggested it was likely that Sports Direct would distribute House of Fraser’s goods from its own warehouse in Shirebrook in future.

Alan Costello, an organiser for the GMB union, which represents workers at the Milton Keynes site, said:“GMB is disappointed by the fact that XPO and Sports Direct are clearly only interested in the stock in the warehouse. They couldn’t care less about our members or their livelihoods.

“This whole standoff, during which our members have been left in limbo, has been about commodities, not people.”

One of House of Fraser’s major suppliers, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, this week withdrew its brands, which include Jacques Vert and Jane Norman.

Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, is expected to visit one of House of Fraser’s stores in Glasgow on Friday with the chain’s chief executive, Alex Williamson, as he attempts to secure new deals with landlords across the country.